>> eric: that does it for us. have a really good sunday. thank you for watching. >> jamie: do everything eric said -- don't get the flu.

america's news headquarters with shannon bream starts right now. have a great day. >> shannon: a live report coming up from washington on president obama. the debt seal ceiling takes a new turn. can the president make an end run around congress? some lawmakers saying it should be an option. we'll talk with former governor, haley barbour. confirmation clash. republican senator lindsay graham vows to hold up john brennan's confirmation to the cia until we get inching on the attacks in benghazi. and the national cathedral says yes to same-sex marriage, receiving cheers and jeers.

we will have a fair and balanced debate. america's news headquarters from the nation's capitol starts right now. president obama's second term hasn't started officially, but the agenda and the cabinet are taking shape. so are some of the clashes over the president's nominations. jennifer griffin has more on the fights ahead. >> reporter: first, there will be the confirmation battles, many of which seem like they will be bruising. none more than the hearing before the senate armed services committee over the new defense secretary, chuck hagel. the hearings could start as early as this week. the white house has mounted a vigorous defense. hagel says his record on iran, gays and the military has been distorted. members of the armed services committee will question hagel. but today on "face the nation," senator john mccain called hagel a friend, though he has questions and is annoyed at how the white house has handled the

nomination. >> usually wprevious presidents, republican and democrat, when they are considering nominations, they call in the other side and the key members on the other party and say, hey, i am thinking about nominating mr. "x," what do you think about it? there has been none of that. >> reporter: the former secretary of the joint chiefings and colin powell gave his backing to hagel, even though he was one of the largest critics of the war in iraq, a war that powell helped to sell to the american people. he tried to stop the surge, calling it the biggest foreign policy blunder since vietnam. >> he is superbly qualified, based on his overall record and seferts to his country and based on how he feels about troops, veterans and families. i think he will do a great job as secretary of defense. i think in his confirmation hearings, all of these issues that you have raised -- that others have raised -- he will be prepared to deal with them. >> reporter: the president is

gearing up for fights on gun control, deficit reduction, with likely deep defense budget cuts and immigration reform. on tuesday, we will know whether the vice-president will recommend an assault weapons ban. most doubt he will go that far and will look for stronger background checks. on immigration, the president looks likely to get more bipartisan support, with republicans, such as senator marco rubio, presenting similar measures to create a path to citizenship for the current 12 million illegal americans. >> thank you very much. senator lindsay graham isn en route to our studio. i will ask him about gun control and the debate and the cabinet recommendations. send us your questions for senator graham. we will ask him some of your questions. that live interview is in our next hour. in congressional democrats believe it does matter when it comes to the 14th amendment

and the debt. listen to this. >> i can say that this administration does not believe that the 14th amendment gives the president the power to ignore the debt ceiling. >> shannon: all right sm. democrats are pointing to a section that reads that the validity of the public debt of the united states should not be questioned. they say, based on that, they would support president obama, in raising the debt ceiling without congressional approval. joining me now to talk about that and many other thicks, former mississippi governor, republican, haley barbour. thank you for coming in. >> i hope the president doesn't try to do that. to try to take away from the congress the power that the constitution directly gives the congress. that is the power to -- to spend, the power to control the debt. i know that the treasury department has announced they are not going to do it. i hope they stick to that decision because this is -- we

should never have a situation where one person-- the president -- can put our country deeper, deeper, deeper in debt. we are doing a bad job of that now. it would be really bad if it was not -- if the congress let their control go. >> shannon: you saw the white house press secretary says it is not something we are going to do or are prepared to do. but we have a all right from dozens of democrats in the house and on the senate side, saying we have to do something if we are faltering. they are saying that the republicans are holding the country hostage if they don't vote for the debt ceiling, saying we need the funds to pay for obigations we have already are incurred and they blame the republicans for the last credit downgrade because they didn't want to vote on the debt ceiling. >> president obama voted against increasing the debt ceiling. i find it weeferd that his allies, are saying that the people who do that are bads.

we have an interesting time coming up. in the next few weeks in the united states, we have the debt ceiling will get to the point of default. we have the tennessee continuing resolution under which the government is running, expires march 28. the sequestration which was put off two months. if i were at the level of a dictator here, i would take the debt ceiling and push it off to say, june 30. you can't fight all three at the same time. a., i believe the democrats are as scared of the sequestration as the republicans are. there is nothing you can cut on the debt ceiling you can't cut on the continuing resolution. so i would say, mr. president, we are going to put the debt ceiling off to june 30. let me tell you why. between now and then, we are going on cut $3 trillion, $4 trillion -- whatever it is on the continuing resolution and the sequestration. if you stop us from doing that,

you are going to put us in a position that the only thing left's the debt ceiling. let's hope we can work together. one thing, the american people know we don't have a $17 trillion debt because we tax too little. it's because we spend too much. >> shannon: that's the debate we heard during the fiscal cliff negotiations and we are going to hear in the weeks and months, as you have outlined. all during the fiscal cliff, all the polling showed that the general public thought this was the fault of the house republicans, primarily the house side and republicans in congress as a whole. have you headed up the republican national committee, you know what it is like to sell a message to the american people. why are the republicans not doing well? they are saying, we are trying to put on the brakes and we are selling out our grandkids. but the public, when polled, blames republicans for this? >> one of the things you learn in politics, sometimes the other side gets the bumper sticker and

you get the essay. the democratic-controlled senate has not papassed a budget in 3 years. the house republican vtion passed budgets when they have controlled-- the american people are never told that. why? republicans don't talk about it enough -- >> shannon: why not? >> well, because they get distracted about other things. we don't have one leader with the megaphone. the in thees -- president obama said this was about taxes, tax, taxes, as you said. yet after what he -- he got what he wanted and declared victory, the deficit's going up $4 trillion under the fiscal cliff. it is not helping the problem the american people are concerned about. we are having more deficit. again because the problem isn't about taxes. it's about spending. republicans have to have campaign communications, strategy, like chinese water torture. it has to be drip, drip, drip. the american people are not dumb.

but they need to hear over and over what they already know deep in their hearts. their family can't spend itself rich and the government can't spend itself rich. >> shannon: we will see all of those things coming down the pike, how the public views it and how lawmakers will respond to the problem. always good to see you. happy new year. >> happy new year to you and your viewers. the debate is rapid fire as lawmakers weigh in on deadly weapons and our constitutional rights. >> the likelihood is that they are not going to be able to get a assault weapon ban. >> taking away the rights of law-abiding citizens will not stop a deranged individual or a criminal. >> someone can walk into a wal-mart, buy a shopping cart full of ammunition, walk out, pay, no questions asked. >> shannon: very different views on an issue taking center stage. the vice-president is set to

make his recommendations to the white house on tohow it put an end to gunnce. and gun owners plan to make a statement. they are not going to take to the streets, to you about gun stores, gun ranges and gun shows to send the president the message to leave the second amendment alone. thank you for joining me. >> thank you for inviting me. i am delighted to be here. >> shannon: i have to say, some of the reaction i got from the folks talks about this said, maybe this wasn't the best name, maybe second amendment rights day. why did you choose gun appreciation day? >> because americans appreciate their guns and they understand the value of the second amendment. the individual firearm is a symbol of our from and our liberty. we are asking people to come out to their gun ranges, to their gun storks bring their constitutions, their flags, carry signs and let us celebrate the freedom that we have that is represented in the first and

second amendments. gun celebration day is going to be a celebration of the first and second amendment. >>o. >> shannon: all right. we have had heard suggestions about what the vice-president may present and the common ground of gun rights advocates. and in these recommendations this week, is there anything have you heard about background checks or eliminating certain types of weapons that you think would be beneficial? or are you more concerned about limits? >> well, it's a connection of the slippery slope and the nibbling by a thousand cuts. that's been going on since the mid-90s. if you go back, there is a marvelous clip of senator dianne feinstein, after they passed the original so-called assault weapons ban. and by the way, those are not assault weapons, they are semi-automatics. they are not sawrlt weapons. after they passed that ban, she said, that was the best she could get f. she had her way, she would have banned them all,

scooped them all up, she said, turn them all in, mr. and mrs. america. the daily cost has written that's the real agenda, to prohibit the ownership of firearms. it's very clear they will take what they can get and come back for more as soon as that's possible. we are out to defend the seconds amendment. it's a sweeping guarantee of a natural right to own and bear arms and use them in self-defense. that's what we are going to celebrate on january 19. >> shannon: do you find there is a lot of misinformation. when i try to have conversations about this, i find the misuse of words like assault weapons or folks not knowing what that definition means. do you think there needs to be more education out there? >> there does. we need to stand down the rhetoric. it just encourages people on both sides to get engaged in what is professional wrestling. let's have an adult

conversation. read the assessment amendment. study why the second amendment was put in there. remember, this is the second amendment, second only after free speech, religion. the founders took this very, very seriously. this is not an amendment to guarantee the right to hunt squirrels. so it's very important that we have an adult conversation, stop ranting and raving over gun violence. of course, we all hate gun violence. but for example, let us ask the question, why have we seen the mass shootings that we have? it is not the law-abiding citizens, using their guns. in fact, there is a very close connection with psychiatric drugs. i have a forbes column i wrote that should be appearing very soon, it draws the connection between the presence of these psychiatric drug, people -- those so-called lone wolf shooters, especially the young people who are on these

psychiatric drugs, anti-depressants or in withdrawal from them, why isn't congress holding hearings on this? rather than pulling the nra do into these meetings and brow-beating them over exercising a right that the founders guaranteed, why not invite the pharmaceutical companies into capitol hill and see if we can find the connection between these psychiatric drugs and the murder ags rages that they send some people into. >> shannon: larry hunter, spokesman for gun appreciation day on the 19th. many, many angles need to be discussed. we know those who are planning counter activities to what you have. we will see how it plays out on the 19th. >> thank you. >> shannon: join sean hannity for a one-hour special, as he talked to legal gun owner who is were publicly identified by a new york newspaper. he talks to them about their

personal safety fears and what every gun overowner can do to protect their second amendment right. the nra's idea to place armed guards in schools may be gaining traction in texas. the lieutenant governor is proposing intensive training for teachers, in which each school district would decide who carries in the classroom. >> the state ought to put up the funds for robust training for the personnel that the independent school district approves to carry a handgun in a school, so that they will know what to do and they won't hurt themselves and harm any children >> it's it's unclear if anything has been proposed forty. but a similar bill failed in 2011. a former army staff sergeant known for his epic valor in the

afghan war is the fourth living recipient for actions in iraq or afghanistan. president obama will present the award to clinton ramesha next month, saying me and fellow soldiers were surrounded by dozens of enemy fighters and fought back bravely and he took out an enemy machine gun team, despite his injuries. coming up, ousted egyptian president hosni mubarak tries to get out of a life sentence for allowing protesters to be murdered. and feverish, coughing, achy flu is sweeping the country. it is not too late to get the flu shot. but is it still available? officemax has exactly the ink... your business needs... at prices that keep you...out of the red. this week get a bonus $15 itunes gift card with any qualifying $75 ink purchase. find thousands of big deals now... at officemax.

[ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup lets you hear it... in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. great taste. mmm... [ male announcer ] sounds good. it's amazing what soup can do. olaf gets great rewards for his small business! pizza! [ garth ] olaf's small busins earns 2% cash back on every purchase, ery day! helium delivery. put it on my spark card! [ pop! ] [ garth ] why settle for less? great businesses deserve great rewards! awesome!!! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? or double miles on every purchase, every day! why take exercise so seriously,when it can be fun? push-ups or sprints? what's wrong with fetch? or chase? let's do this larry!

ooh, i got it, i got it! (narrator) the calorie-smart nutrition in beneful healthy weight... incles grains and real chicken, because a healthy dog is a playful dog. beneful healthy weight. find us on facebook to help put more play in your day.

isurprise...it's eating less. to losing weight. i'm hungry just thinking about it. thank goodness for new slimful. one delicious, 90-calorie slimful and a glass of water, like before dinner, helps keep me satisfied for hours. so instead of this much, i only need this much. and slimful tastso good... i don't even miss dessert. slimful and a glass of water... eating less is a beautiful thing.

>> a vow to move ahead with plans to build a jewish settlement is not sitting well with palestinian activists. speaking after rotesters were moved from the construction site, president netanyahu planned his support for the project to deepen eastern islam's separation from the west bank. both want a state for their own. >> we understand that a hearing

will be held soon. we call on iranian officials to respect iran's own laws and provide access to an attorney. >> shannon: the state department publicly responding to the plight of an american pastor trapped in an iranian prison. he has american citizen help and has come under attack in iran for being a christian. he has been jailed since september. we have been following the story closely here. the american center for law and justice has been working to free the pastor. his trial judge is notorious for giving people the death penalty. they are publicly calling on the state department to do more. what happens when religious beliefs conflict with secular societieses? many americans believe their religious freedoms are getting quashed. now a law school will come to their defense. that story is next. [ male announcer ] with over 50 delicious choices of green giant vegetables it's easy to eat like a giant...

♪ and feel like a green giant. ♪ ho ho ho ♪ green giant is efficiently absorbed in small continuous amounts. citracal slow release continuously releases calcium plus d with efficient absorption in one daily dose. citracal slow release.

>> shannon: the issue of gub violence is on the agenda in washington this week issue as the vice-president will release his recommendations to the president. >> reporter: appearing on a sunday talk show, the president of the national rifle association said congress won't pass a new assault weapons ban or a restriction on high-capacity magazines. but democrats maintain the newtown massacre is causing a sea of change and that gun rights advocates need to compromise. an indicted utah businessman is trying to tie senate majority leader harry reid to an alleged bribery scream. ger jeremy johnson, chark wednesday money laundering and bank fraud said that the utah attorney general set up a deal for him to pay more than a half million to reid to make a federal investigation go away. swallow strongly denies the

charges. no comment from reid's office yet. former president george h.w. bush may be heading home if a houston hospital soon, admitted from a bronchitis-related cough before thanksgiving. wee he could be discharge inside the coming weeks. miss new york, mallory hagan is the new miss america, beating out 52 other candidates last night for the $50,000 scholarship prize. now, i will send it back to a former miss virginia and miss america finalist, shannon bream. >> shannon: aren't you going to tell them about your mr. america finalist? >> reporter: that's not real. >> shannon: all right. thanks. a momentary reprieve from ousted president hosni mubarak, ordering a retrial. it's been nearly two years, since mubarak was sentenced on the charges, he failed to prevent the deaths of hundreds of protesters in the uprising in the protest that tossed him out

of power. >> reporter: today's acquittal is the latest from a long line of twists and turns in egypt, since the two-year-long political transition got underway. there were loud ryes in themubad inside the courtroom and outside the courthouse, saying long live justice. defense lawyers argued that mubarak didn't help the killings -- didn't issue the killings of those protesters and didn't know of the killings so he couldn't have prevented them. the judge aagreed and overturned the convictions. but both mubarak and his former chief of security will be retried, along with several others who were acquitted in the first trial. no date has been set for a retrial. right now, mubarak remains under watch and is in a military prison in egypt. he will stay there for the foreseeable future because he's also facing corruption charges.

now, just a few months ago, mubarak was reportedly near debet. he had fallen and injured himself. we deponent know what state mubarak is in. the last two years have seen a lot of change and turm noil egypt. it is unlikely that this new announcement, the overturning of the conviction will do little to stabilize egypt going forward. >> shannon: thank you, live from jerusalem. thank you, connor. a chough in livingston county, kentucky, was destroyed after severe weather swept through the western part of the state. it was severely damaged. a grain silo also toppled in heavy winds and rain and nasa officials are trying to determine if a tornado hit the town or if the damage was from strong winds. the worst flu outbreak in recent history has families in a frenz tow get their shots, in order not to become an alarming

statistic. we have more on this important story. >> reporter: hey there. i can tell you some hospitals are telling all workers, they must get the flu shot. some employees have lost their jobs over refusing to do so. nationally, public health officials say some places are experiencing shortages, patients are waiting on shipments to come inform but physicians are urging americans to be consistent, because vaccine is available. according to the cdc, the vaccine is 62% effective in preventing the flu this year t. takes two weeks to work. so now is the time to get the shot. nearly 130 million doses of flu vaccine have been distributed. so far, at least 112 million have been used. hospitals around the country have seen spiked in flu-related admissions and deaths compare to the last 3 years. this year's strain is particularly nasty, making people sicker for longer.

employers are doing whatever they can to keep their workforces healthy, some handing out masks and encouraging employees to wear them. physicians caution everyone to wash hands often and disinfect computers and cell phones. the virus is easily spread on planes, trains, escalators and the handle at the gas pump. >> all of this leads to a higher viral transmission rate. it's easy to get it from surfaces that people have coughed on it and touched after coughing on their happeneds. so the best preventive measure at any time is to perform good hand hygiene. >> reporter: the flu is widespread from 47 states, accord to the cdc, mississippi, california and hawaii are the only ones not seeing a widespread outbreak. the vaccine is designed to help peoples who get the shot. it also helps overall for the entire community because fewer people are contagious and

spreading the virus around. back to you. >> shannon: i never thought about the gas pump. that's a good point. >> reporter: carry your sanitizer. >> shannon: thank you. our nation was built on religious tolerance, but many feel their religious freedom is under attack. it were, stanford university's law schol is holding a first of its kind clinic, taking on clients of any faith. it is funded in part by the becket fund for relirks liberty. we have a representative from the becket fund with more. thanks for your time today. >> thank you. we at the becket fund are so excited to be here. >> shannon: tell bus this clinic, yuthink it's necessary and the kind of work it will do? >> the clinic will be training students, law students, how it practice law with representing real clients from a diverse background of religious faith and before real judges and courts and defending the free

expression of all religious traditions. >> shannon: what kind of cases are you seeing that you felt it was important to fund this effort to make sure that future lawyers will be trained to handle this? >> we at the becket fund have seen a dramatic increase in persecution against people of faith. this is not about who god is,b it is about who we are. and people of faith should be able to express themselves at home and in church and in the public square, at their job site and wherever they live, wherever they practice their faith. >> shannon: i know that the becket fund has been a key player in a number of the challenges to the hhs contraception mandate from the administration, the hobby lobby case that everyone is watching, the biggest employer challenging this. is that a prime example, where we come to this collision between secular policy and law and deeply held private religious beliefs?

>> absolutely. we are representing hobby lobby and we are representing several nonprofit client who is have seen this administration try to impose -- violate their religious beliefs. this is extraordinary. only 20 years ago, it was brought bipartisan support on the hill and the most important piece of religious liberty legislation last. americans stood food firmly on behalf of religious frill. we have never seen the government try to violate those religious convictions with the hhs mandate and the rights of pharmacists not to have to distribute drugs that they have opposition to and to say the words under good god in the pledge of allegience. >> reporter: there has been a lawsuit on the visitor capitol buildings and others. there are more and more challenges going on. how do we get to where we are now, where there is a need to

staff up and be prepared to fight back? >> there is a great confusion about what is the true nature of religious liberty. the government is not supposed to interfere with what is in here and what is in here. my parents came from cuba and came as many immigrants did, understanding that their beliefs would be respected in all aspects. however, there is a great misunderstanding that expressing those religious convictions and those beliefs outside of the home has become something that is offensive. there is no law against being offended. it is part of what we are. when there is a jazz concert, people don't cover their ears and decide it's government endorsing a particular type of music. we have an understanding of religion as part of who we are, part of our culture. the state did not grant those rights, so the state cannot take those away. >> shannon: you are involved in

a number of issues, and that's what this clinic will be about, with all viewpoigns and all religions. we will stay tuned as this launches tomorrow. thank you for your time. >> thank you so much, shannon. >> shannon: two senators from both sides of the aisle say they have very tough questions and concerns about former senator chuck hagel. the man the president wants to head the defense department. that's next. have to ask you to power down your little word game. i think your friends will understand. oh no, it's actually my geico app...see? ...i just uh paid my bill. did you really? from the plane? yeah, i can manage my policy, get roadside assistance, pretty much access geico 24/7. sounds a little too good to be true sir. i'll believe that when pigs fly. ok, did she seriously just say that? geico. just click away with our free mobile app.

nothing. are you stealing our daughter's school supplies and taking them to work? no, i was just looking for my stapler and my... this thing. i save money by using fedex ground and buy my own supplies. that's a great idea. i'm going to go... we got clients in today. [ male announcer ] save on ground shipping at fedex office.

>> shannon: if you own a computer, listen up. the department of homeland security is warning you to temporarily disable goaf a. there is a flaw in the software that could make you vulnerable to criminal activity. oracle, the owner of java, says the problem will be fixed soon. >> we have a lot of questions to

answer about this. i am deeply troubled by t. i also wonder what message are we sending to iran? what message are we sending to israel? i am perplexed that the president has nominated him. >> i want to ask questions about those positions. i am not comfortable -- yet -- i want to ask him questions about those two issues. >> shannon: senators kelley iiot and richard blue menthal are both apprehensive about the president's choice for secretary of state. i sat down with chris wallace to chat about that revealing conversation. the president has offered up a number of nominations for key positions and you had two senators to talk about the nominations of former senator hagel. >> that will be a tough nomination. we had two members of the armed services committee, which will hold hearings.

iiot is very concerned with the positions that hagel has stated and voted in years as a senator on iran, on israel, on defense cuts, on a variety of issues. and she indicated that at this point, that she is leaning against him. and he is going to have to persuade her in one-on-one meetings, the nominees meet with each of the members of the committee and in the committee hearings. but she said, he's going to have to do some convincing. richard blue menthal expressed concerns. he's a dm. but he predicted at then of the day, we will get through. but when you hear somebody like chuck schumer, the number 3 man in the senate democratic leadership, particularly on the issue of israel because, of course, hagel talked about the jewish lobby and has said that -- israel this shnegotiate with hamas. he won't endorse him and said, i will wait to be persuaded. i think of all the nominees, i

think this is the only one in jeopardy. >> shannon: you talked about the senates and the panel, all of these were expecting word from the vice-president with regard to gun control laws on tuesday, more or less, tightening up what we have. do you think congress is ready to make any substantive changes to what we have now? >> let me give you a couple of facts that i learned this week, setting up for the program. 1; last year, in the 2012 election cycle, the nra contributed $20 million to federal candidates, people running for congress and for president. gun control groups, $20 million for the nra, $4,000 for the gun control groups and more than 50% of the members of the new congress get an "a" rating for the nra. so that's a sense of the clout that the nra has. i think if anything happens, legislatively, there will be regulatory changes and executive action, if anything happens, it will be smaller, rather than

bigger. i think it will be a very hard row to eliminate assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. 40% of all gun sales, there is no background check, maybe if not universal, you will see expansion to that. >> shannon: we will see what recommends out. thank you for the preview of your show. >> you bet. >> shannon: the exclusive interviews and watch "fox news sunday" right after america's news headquarters. chris and leaders of gun groups from both sides tackle the debate over the seconds amendment. you will not want to miss that. folks in beijing are not breathing easy, being told to go indoors for the sake of their health. air pollution in the capitol city is at historic highs. a live report on that, coming up. [ ryon ] eating shrimp at red lobster is a fantastic experience. 30 shrimp for $11.99. i can't imagine anything better. you're getting a ton of shrimp, and it tastes really good!

[ male announcer ] hurry in to red lobster's 30 shrimp for just $11.99! choose any two of five savory shrimp selections, like mango jalapeño shrimp and parmesan crunch shrimp. two delicious shrimp selections on one plate! all with salad and unlimited cheddar bay biscuits. 30 shrimp, just $11.99 for a limited time. wow, that's a lot of shrimp. i'm ryon stewart, i'm the ultimate shrimp lover, and i sea food differely.

>> shannon: president obama and key senate republicans, heading into a grinding personnel fight. top republicans are promising to block some of the president's nominees, until they get answers about the deadly 9/11 benghazi terror attack. >> this administration's stonewalling the congress, trying to get benghazi and they're behind them politically in their rear-view mirror. >> i am going to stand firm to get the basic answers that should have gone given to the congress months ago.

>> shannon: senator lindsay graham line. a florida homeowner says it's grand theft real estate. he was told he has to hand over a chunk of his property to the government and pay thousands for repairs on public land that is miles away. the property owner is here, live. and same-sex couples can merin the washington national cathedral. some traditional marriageo advocates are outraged. fair and balanced. the chairman of the national organization for marriage joins us, as well as the dean of the national cathedral. time for a look at the top stories we are following. the centers for disease control and prevention, says doctor visits for flu visits are way above the baseline. 47 states are experiencing widespread flu activity.

cdc officials are still calling this a moderate season. there will be no platinum coins to avoid the increase in the debt limit. that saying that it doesn't believe minting a $1 trillion coin will do anything. they are taking extraordinary measures to keep paying the nation's bills without further borrowing. if you feel tense, throw a no ball -- thens of people in seattle, hoping to thack make their mark in the guinness book of world records, turning out for the largest ice-flinging fight in history. that snow was shipped in from the mountains for the icy showdown. it is not the flu, about the air they are breathing, launching red alerts in china. residents are told to stay inside, as the air quality has hit the worst level since officials began tracking air pollution. we go live for the details from banke bangkok. >> reporter: yes, china's

capital is notorious for bad pollution, but today was one of the worst ever. the smog seemed to envelope the whole of the city, making it dangerous for the people there. the beijing municipal environmental monitoring center is recommending that children and the elderly stay indoors, despite the danger of beijing streets were busy today. people, of course, get use to the smog. but i know friend who is live there and when the cloud comes down, they try to stay home and switch on the air purifiers. the pollution figures are staggering. plugs is measured in the amount of small particulates in the atmosphere. according to the beijing super, they surpass 700 micro crograms per cubic meter n. context, the world health says it's cive to have just 25 micrograms. there has been a controversy to see if the readings were

accurate or they were trying to understate the problem and give lower readings. the u.s. embassy publish its own data on twitter and commented that the readings were beyond index. the highest number it got on the data was the equivalent of a massive 886 micrograms per cubic meter. the u.s. environmental protection agency's air quality index would easily categorize them as emergency conditions. the people of beijing have been getting increasingly concerned about air quality in the city. the middle class, particularly concerned about it. but, of course, the major factor is the rapid industrialization of beijing over the last few decades. also, a massive increase in cars, and also, at this time of year, increased use of heating oil, all bringing up this smog that is enveloping beijing today. they are saying it won't clear,

shannon, until tuesday. back to you. >> shannon: wow, the pictures of amazing. thank you for the update. one of the most liberal states on gun policy may provide insight into how far the country as a whole might be willing to go in changes to gun laws. details after the break. so you say men are superior drivers? yeah. then how'd i get this... [ voice of dennis ] ...safe driving bonus check? every six months without an accident, allstate sends a check. ok. [ voice of dennis ] silence. are you in good hands?

>> shannon: as the debate over gun violence rages some officials considering changes at the state level.

california has some of the toughest firearms laws in the country. fox news correspondent claudia cowen has the story. >> reporter: buying a handgun in california is no sem many task. it requires registration, a safety certificate, a ten day waiting period and rigorous background check. all direct person to person sales are banned and concealed care arery permits are rare. the state routinely redefines and bans so called assault weapons, limits the number of firearms purchased by individuals, forbids opening carrying and has strict bb gun regulations. >> california is the most gun controlled state in the country. number one. >> reporter: now, the golden state is moving to enact even more restrictions. >> almost any idea that anybody in this country has as to how to further regulate and limit access to weapons or ammunition

is probably going to get passed in california. >> buying bullets should not be easy. >> reporter: some politicians want to regulate all ammunition sales requiring background checks and annual permits. democratic state senator are aims to ban a feature that he says makes some guns like this ar 15 rifle easier to reload. >> what we are trying to do with our particular bill is to basically ban that particular weapon because it is in fact a loop p hole in the assault weapon ban. >> gun owners say lawmakers are overreaching and trying to assert power. >> they know that as long as there s an armed populous in the state they will never control the people the way they want to control them. >> reporter: gun owners vow to lobby state lawmakers here rally citizens across the state and take their fight to court if need be. other states will be watching closely to see how far california can bump up against

the second amendment and whether any gun control laws can actually make a difference. in sacramento, claudia cowan, fox news. >> there are millions upon millions of americans who value the rights that they have under the second amendment. >> i want every nra member he. i want every law abiding gun owner to know their second amendment rights will not be infringed upon. >> shannon: driving the news this week the debate over gun rights as vice president biden gets set to make recommendations to the president on gun violence. peter doocy has the latest from washington. two days from right now we will know what the task force vice president biden has been leading will recommend to president obama as a legislative means for reducing gun violence. that the point, speculation has been that the administration will seek to restrict assault

weapons and high capacity magazines in some way but the nra does not think that is a a good idea. >> we wished that instead of talking about guns specifically that they question that they would have addressed is what do we do to prevent these kinds of things in the future. and the evidence shows that an assault weapons ban or all of these things are not going to do that. what will do it is doing something about a broken mental health system that allows people who are potentially violent to be on the streets. >> keene also said he doesn't think there are are enough lawmakers in congress who favor an assault weapons ban to get one passed but groups like the center for american progress question how much clout the nra really has. >> the nra spent a lot of money on the elections last cycle and they he didn't have a lot to show for it, especially if you look at the senate. so a lot of their candidates lost. they had -- if we are looking

at return on investment they had a very low return on investment but you, of course, the nra is a very strong lobby. i think the issue is who is going to represent the voices of the american people in this debate. >> democratic senator chris murphy from connecticut thinks the mass murder at sandy hook statetary school in his last month changed the public opinion about gun control but the alternate argument was made this morning by former republican governor haley barbour from mississippi who said on meet the press he thinks if you make it a crime to have a gun only criminals will have guns. >> shannon: thank you. republicans and democrats alike have expressed concerns over the president's choice to head the defense department. former senator chuck hagel and the treasury about pick jack lu is facing road blocks as well. joining us to talk about that with his insights and more, chris stirewalt, host of power

play on fox news .com 11:30 a.m. eastern monday through friday. >> that is all accurate and much appreciated. >> shannon: thanks for coming in on sunday as well. >> you bet. >> shannon: senator lindsey graham calls it an in your face pick by the president. tell us what are the main stumbling blocks he will face? >> hagel has two sets of problems. one set relates to the fact that he is a -- he would not be a good choice for secretary of state. he is not -- that is not his bag. he has been outspoken and blunt and prides himself on being mavericky and outspoken. on the one side the things that he said about the state of israel and the united states relationship thereto cause him bipartisan problems with supporters of israel because of things he said that seemed to take sort of an even handed approach to the arab israeli conflict and that is not something that is okay with people who believe that there

they are our most important most valuable ally in that region and we he have a special relation shell with them. ha is problematic. he said some things about gay folks that he has since walked back and is sorry about that. then the issue on the right and and is the fact that he anding antagonized his own party. called it the greatest mistake since the vietnam war and itented up working and benefited barack obama to a huge degree. people like lindsey graham recent the way he conduct himself. they think he is wrong on foreign policy and wrong to want to cut the defense department. >> shannon: there is oust and deferens to the president's -- there is often a deferens to the president's picks. >> we will call it 92.5% likely that he gets through.

there will be loud noises made and tables pounded and senator hagel will apologize for the things that he said that upset democrats. i have a hard time seeing the republicans breaking their pick on this issue. jack lew maybe. >> shannon: let's talk about that. i talked with senator jeff he sessions and he did not qualify his language at all, calling jack lew a liar saying he testified about the president's policies and plans for the economy and said there is not going to be any more deficit. sessions said to me he lied to congress, there is no way he should be the treasury secretary. >> there are people who say things all the time in washington who make lots of noise about stuff. jeff is sessions is not one of those guys. >> shannon: he is very measured. >> a measured person and the ranking republ budget committee in the senate. when you start talking that way you can't walk that back. the way people talk about hagel they usually leave trap doors i want to hear him say the

following things but you start to hear the unequivocal things about lew. jack lew was the negotiator seven ram times through the ongoing debacle that we call government finance and the republicans don't trust him and they dislike him and think he is is liberal and remember this the republicans are divided when it comes to defense. some are hawkish, some are more libertarian and looking to pull back. so the republicans are divided on that. they all think we need to cut spending so jack lew could face a much more united front from the gop. >> shannon: we shall see. chris stirewalt, see you you at 11:30 a.m. eastern tomorrow. >> shannon: senator lindsey graham has been talking tough on the debt ceiling and the president's newest nominees. i will ask him about that and some of your questions as well. if you have is a question for senator graham tweet us.

our exclusive interview with senator lindsey graham coming up. the mayor of los angeles has definite ideas about how president obama can help bring about what he calls meaningful immigration legislation. speak on "face the nation," he says he s heartened by the bipartisan cooperation he is seeing on the issue and laid out his own ideas. >> you have to have the pathway that allows folks to glenn conticello full citizens. the make sure you get at the end of the lien that you you pay your taxes and have a background check. in the end we he have to make sure that these people have a pathway to citizenship. you can't do this in a piece meal way. >> he will be leaving later this year because of term limits. he has issues sights set on statewide office. planned parenthood reported record-breaking numbers after

year. at the same time it announced performing a record high number of abortions planned parenthood revealed it received more than a half billion dollars in taxpayer money during the last fiscal year prompting prolife advocates to sound the alarm. >> the average person thinks we should not be borrowing more money so we can pay for abortions. >> shannon: prolife lawmakers reintroduced legislation aimed at blocking family planning funding that will go to any group that does not certify that it doesn't perform abortions. planned parenthood says more than 90% of its services are preventive care and we are reimbursed by the government for providing specific preventive services to low income patients. federal funds are not and cannot be used to provide abortion. planned parenthood's own statistics showed over the last three years it performed a million abortions at a

consistent annual rate. during the same time period the organization also had a nearly 30% drop in cancer screenings and more than an 11% drop in contraceptive services. funding battles brewing as a number of states have fought to block planned parenthood from access ising their funds. the obama administration has often stepped in, either directly funding the organization itself or threatening to withhold federal funding from the states unless they reverse their decisions. >> every time we defund on the state level the president steps in and says over my dead body. >> shannon: joining us to talk about this, congress woman marsha blackburn. she has reintroduced a bill that would block federal funding to planned parenthood under title nine. thank you for joining us today. >> good to be with you. >> shannon: excuse me, title 10. what is title 10. >> part of the 1970 act done through hhs and what they do is direct funding for women's

health services. what has happened through the years is planned parenthood has moved to abortion services and, indeed, this past year, shannon, they got $542 million from the federal government. that is taxpayer dollars. they did 335,000 abortions and that is one abortion every 94 seconds. and we are just saying look, you know, you you do not need to be using this money, money is fungible and we need to cut federal funds going to planned parent hood. >> shannon: i talked with planned parenthood about the new record numbers and they said no federal taxpayer money has ever been used for abortion. it cannot be. it will not be and their argument is they are providing essential health services to women that they are not going to be able to get elsewhere are if the government cuts off funding. >> but the problem with that is if you go to planned parenthood for a mammogram they refer you.

so they are making these referrals and even now as some of the states have stepped in to begin to cut the funding to planned parenthood then you have the federal government stepping back in but again you you have got planned parenthood putting the focus on abortion services, indeed, requiring all of their affiliates to do abortion services in 2013. >> shannon: that was something new that i learned in putting the story together. something i hadn't realized. basically the parent organization is saying to the franchises if you don't provide abortion services you can't be affiliated with planned parenthood. >> and that is of concern to us. they are away from what their original mission was and we are very concerned that the focus is on abortion services. we do not want federal money taxpayer money to be used for abortion services and what we have learned from former

employees at planned parenthood and individuals that have worked with them is all that money is fungible. when you are an organization that gets 45% of our revenue from the federal government and when you have 1.2 bullpen north assets you do not need taxpayer funding. >> what is your handicapping of success for this in the house and even if you are successful there what about the senate? >> i think we are going to do really well. we will have a bill come forward in the senate so we will be bicameral in that regard. we have a letter that has 29 groups supporting this. this letter has already been sent to our colleagues' offices. we do expect that we will have bipartisan support on it. the issue will come before us at committee. i think we will move it through committee and move it through the house and quickly move it over to the senate side and we are expecting bipartisan support there also. >> i wanted to ask you about that how you many democrats may

be willing to sign on, cosponsor or at least gar ran fee you a vote on this. >> i think that we will see enough to say this is a solid bipartisan bill. there is so many of my colleagues in the house who are very concerned about this and, you know, quite frankly, shannon this is an issue where fiscal and social conservatives agree that you do not need to be using taxpayer dollars to pay for abortion services. >> shannon: and again, planned parenthood tells us they don't so we will watch as this plays out. always good to see you. thank you. >> good to see you, thank you. >> shannon: an iranian pastor is, once again, free after a second stint in an iranian prison because of his christian faith. he was released after being held for two weeks. we covered this story when previously he was h held for are a thousand days and sentenced to death. he was freed.

despite the recent release the pastor still is not completely safe there in iran. the state department has been responding for the first time this week to the plight of an american pastor trapped in prison there. a spokesperson for the state department says thes hopes iranian officials will respect their own laws anden sure that the pastor will have access to an attorney. he is being held because he is a christian. the american center for law and justice has been working on both cases trying to free the pastor and is concerned about his future. he has been assigned a trial judge who is notorious for giving the death penalty. the supreme court hears a case this week that pits a land owner against the government who won't give him the permits to develop his land unless. we will tell you what the rest of the par gin would be. we will talk to the plaintiff and his attorney, next. as a mom, you spend a lot of time helping others.

hamburger helper can help you back. and with box tops for education on every box, it helps you help your school. so you're doing good, just by making dinner. hamburger helper. available at walmart. i'm up next, but now i'm sging the heartburn blues. hold on, prilosec isn't for fast relief. cue up alka-seltzer. it stops heartburn fast. ♪ oh what a relief it is! for their "destination wedding." double miles you can "actually" use. but with those single mile travel cards... [ bridesmaid ] blacked out... but i'm a bridesmaid. oh! "x" marks the spot she'll never sit. but i bought a dress! a toast... ...to the capital one venture card. fly any airline, any flight, anytime. double miles you can actually use. what a coincidence? what's in your wallet? [ all screaming ] watch the elbows ladies.

but for most of us it represents something more. it's the time of year that we have all waited for. when we sit on the edge of our seats for four quarters. it represents players reaching a childhood dream. the biggest stage there is in sports. a time when legacies are made. where a magical play can happen every snap, and you remember exactly where you were when it does. watch every moment of super bowl xlvii live on nfl mobile. bringing the big game to you when every play matters... verizon. call star-star nfl to download nfl mobile from verizon. i wish i could keep it this way. [ male announcer ] now you can. with the crest pro-health clinical line. used together, they help keep your teeth 97% as clean as a dental cleaning. the toothpaste actually reduces plaque. and the rinse reaches all areas and is clinically proven to help prevent plaque regrowth. crest pro-health clinical line. together, they help keep your teeth 97% as clean as a dental cleaning. crest. life opens up when you do.

woman: what do you mean, homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods? [ heart rate increases ] man: a few inches of water caused all this? [ heart rate increases ] woman #2: but i don't even live near the water. what you don't know about flood insurance may shock you -- including the fact that a preferred risk policy starts as low as $129 a year. for an agent, call the number that appears on your screen.

because of the work contributions of many of you, all volunteers they now have this magnify is sen magnificen. they have everything here. >> shannon: this weekend marks three years since the

devastating earthquake in haiti. greta van susteren traveled many times to the island nation. tonight she looks back on our time there and shows us how the reis sillent people of haiti are recovering. greta's on on the record special starts at 10:00 eastern tonight. you will not want to miss it. >> shannon: a florida land owner are will get his day at the u.s. supreme court this week in a bat that will spanned nearly two decades. when asked for a permit to develop his land the government entity with jurisdiction said sure as long as you give us a portion of that land and agree to pay thousands of dollars to develop a tract of the land that the government owns miles a i way not even related. is this a government shakedown or completely legal. joining us, coy coons, jr. and his attorney who will argue the case this week. welcome both. >> thank you for having us.

>> shannon: this case actually was started by your father. he has since passed away and you now are continuing this fight. whewhy was it so important to p fighting almost 20 years into this? >> my father always said the only way you lose a fight is if you quit fighting so and he did pass away in 2000. the fight started in '94 and hopefully we are at the last stage of it. so but he fought all of his life like many people in this country and he enjoyed developing land. >> shannon: and he had a real difficult choice here. i mean paul, a lot of people argue not much of a choice. the government said basically you give us part of the land that you own and miles away we have this other piece that we own and we want you to pay for doing repairs and development to that. for a lot of people that sounds like it is not a legit request. >> we don't think it is. the court has to decide whether the government can use the permitting process to leverage

property out of property owners. in this case financing 50 acres of public wettelands offsite if you can imagine that and an 11-acre conservation easement on his property. here we are almost 20 years later fighting the fight. >> shannon: the government the will say it has a right and interest in making sure that wetlands and different protected areas remain protected and they have a right to control the permitting process and how it plays out because they have to take care of the environment. >> and our response to that s we have no problem with the protection of the environment and wettelands but if it is a public good the entire public should have to pay for it. you shouldn't force one property owner to bear the entire burden of playing for that. >> shannon: to get the permit that he wants to fix the land. do you you feel like you you have is taken on something that is a bigger fight for all americans, all landowners. >> definitely. this affects, of course, not only us and we are in the final

stages but it affects any one in the state of florida who owns property. and as far as that goes in this country who owns property because if you assuming that we do come through this successfully it will at least hopefully stop this flood of government regulation and taking land. >> shannon: at this point do you feel like it is a fair fight, the individual land own oar versus the government? do you feel like there is a balance of powethere or not? >> if i had warren buffett's money it would be fair. there are two aspects. number one the financial and number two the time. many people do not have the time. they want to do what they want to do. we are into the 19th year of this. many people do not have that anywhere close to that kind of time and they certainly do not have the money to fight the government. and like i say, hopefully we

are at the final stage. mr. beard here with pacific legal foundation has been working on this for over a year. >> shannon: the average person could never fund something to this level. >> that is the problem really is that most property other thans will swallow whatever unconstitutional provision the government imposes. we are there standing next to coy koontz and hopefully we have a good day on tuesday. >> shannon: we will await the justices' opinion in this. i know that anybody who owns any piece of land in this country will be tuned in and interested. >> a few seconds for a quick story? >> finish this up. >> itnine years ago we left one of the hearings and got into an attorney with two attorneys working for us and three folks from st. john's water management district one turned and said if you want the land why don't you simply pay him for it and she looked at himsam

for it when we can just teak it for him. that crystallizes the 19 years. >> shannon: stunning words and nothing you want to hear from the government. >> that s your government hard at work. >> shannon: yeah, it is. thank you both. >> we wanted to give you an update that we brought to you you on america's news headquarters last fall. an administrators a gallaudet university has now been reinstated. she was first placed on leave in october after supporters of same-sex marriage questioned whether she was fit to be the school's diversity officer. the university president has been quoted assaying this has been a period of reflex for all of us. the same sex controversy brewing in the capital. whether they should be allowed marry in the country's most

high profile church. look what mommy is having. mommy's having a french fry. yes she is, yes she is. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. 100% vegetable juice, with three of your daily vegetable servings in every little bottle. at the doctor's office when they weigh you,

and they have to move it over? my doctor does not have to do that anymore. [ male announcer ] for every 2 pounds you lose through diet and exercise alli can help you lose one more by blocking some of the fat you eat. feels great. [ male announcer ] simple. effective. take that, 50 pound thingy. let's fight fat with alli. learn more, lose more at letsfightfat.com.

>> shannon: vice president joe biden is set to release his recommendations for reducing gun violence to the president this week. appearing on a sunday talk show the president of the national rifle association predicted congress will not pass a new assault weapons ban or a restriction on high capacity magazines but democrats maintain the newtown massacre is changing attitudes on capitol hill. president obama sworn in for his second term next week. today preparations already are underway in the u.s. capital. the inauguration is expected to be smaller this year than it was in 2009 but will still fee he tour a star studded lineup and enthusiastic mood but tempered by high unemployment and a still faltering economy. if you are feeling tense, here is an idea gaining momentum. get out there and throw a snowball. thousands in seattle turning out for the largest ice

slinging fight. the nation's most prominent implementing a new and controversial policy. the washington national cathedral will soon begin allowing same-sex marriages. the church will be among the first episcopal congregations to unemployment lement the new right of marriage. it care areries huge symbolism and advocates of traditional marriage say in their opinion it is the wrong move. joining us is john eastman and reverend gary hall dean of the national cathedral. we will be he begin the conversation with dean hall. thank you for joining us. why this decision, why now? >> the episcopal church has gone through a 20 year process trying to decide what to do how to offer gay and lesbian parishonners the tools for living a faithful life and at last year's general convention it approved this right that we are going to use which could be adaptable for areas where there

is same-sex marriage legal and washington, d.c. and parts of maryland now which s our diocese is is legal in all parts of our diocese and so that is one thing. and so we felt really it was the time and that we were going through it as what a congregation would do in the nation's capital. it has been perhaps a larger symbolic thing than we perhaps thought it might be. >> shannon: a lot of reaction on both sides to this. national cathedral viewed as a house of faith for people of all faiths and different denominations and religions and a gathering point and co-alessing point for americans. how do you answer the americans who say for me personally my faith conviction is that it isn't the right thing to do and yet here is this national monument for all faiths that s going to move ahead with something? >> there is always a tension between pub live and private

morality. and for christians morality is private in terms of individual decision making and public in terms of joint corporate decision making. there are are probably prodeath penalty catholics who go to catholic churches and don't spend a lot of time exercised about the fact that their church has a long tradition of opposing the death penalty. there is also a tension between an individual and a denomination. i would like back to the civil rights movement and say 40 years ago or 50 years ago my prediction is sessionser was one of the mosted a sew he kate civil rights leaders in the country and went to selma, alabama. that was controversial at the time. a large public church like ours needs to be in the leadership role and needs to take stands that may be controversial. for us this is seen as a fairly consentual decision for those of us in the episcopal church. >> shannon: have you gotten

much reaction so far? >> most of the reaction has been positive. i mean we have gotten angry reaction. i think the churches have been dealing with this question for so long and for me again it is a question about what tools do we offer faithful gay and lesbian people for the living of their lives and if we believe that marriage is a good thing for heterosexual people it seems that marriage is also a good thing for homosexual people because it calls people in a more deeply faithful living of their lives. >> shannon: we appreciate your time coming in and eastbound plaining your position here. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> a pleasure to be here. >> shannon: we are continuing our conversation with the other side here. john eastman from the national organization for marriage. john, your reaction to what dean hall had to say, the fact that you want to encourage people to live out their faith and be inclusive? >> what is interesting is the echurch he is right has gone through a 20 year process of discernment and embraced

homosexuality. going to eugene robinson and a huge outcry in the church so much so that the membership numbers are down 16% over the last decade. a thumb of local congregations have broken off and aligned themselves with other more traditional branches of the international communion. what the dean doesn't say is the step that the church has taken of the national church in the united states is directly in violation of international angloican law and the book of prayer. they can do this if they want but redefining marriage to be something it was never understood to be is going to have dramatic consequences both in this country and in their church. >> shannon: some people do split although the most recent polling shows that americans are still split on the issue when it comes to gay and lesbian marriage. very much sort of a 50/50 with

a slight advantage to those who favor gay marriage here in this country. for some the dividing line is about a civil ceremony versus what happens in a church. should churches be able to decide which kinds of couples they will marry? >> well, you know, churches can do whatever they want. the question is what does their religious faith teach. and the folks that are pushing this in the episcopal church have the same kind of living constitution cavalier regard for doctrines of the bible as the living constitution has had with the constitution. the fact of the matter is they should recognize even their own doctrine coming out of the international and international organization says this is not proper. and not in accord with the doctrine of the church. but i think there is another aspect of this. what does this indicate for the legal battle we are in the middle of and i think it shows that different organizations are going to go different ways on this and i think that means that the courts do not need to impose a one rule fits all for the country as the court cases

are going up to the united states supreme court. >> shannon: we do have both the defense of marriage act case and the prop 8 case out of california. what do you think the supreme court will do with either or both of those cases? >> we are certainly supreme court to upholdmurginge californians to keep traditional marriage as the definition of marriage in their state. i think they will go that way instead of finding a constitutional right that doesn't exist in the constitution. >> shannon: thanks for the discussion on this very controversial topic. thank you. >> thank you. >> shannon: up next, a fox news exclusive with senator lindsey graham. the south carolina republican will tell us what he is willing to do to get answers on benghazi. stay tuned. [ female announcer ] today, jason is here

to volunteer to help those in need. when a twinge of back pain surprises him. morning starts in high spirits, but there's a growing pain in his lower back. as lin grow longer, his pain continues to linger. but after a long day of helping others, he gets some helpful advice. just two aleve have the strength to keep back pain away all day. today, jason chose aleve. just two pills for all day pain relief. try aleve d for strong, all day long sinus and headache relief.

and save hundreds with our best offer. get an adt security system

starting at just $49 installed, but for a limited time only. that's an instant savings of $250. don't leave your family's safety to chance when you can take advantage of these savings now. call or visit adt.com/tv. both: i had a break-in. man: by the time we called the police, there wasn't much they could do. i felt so helpless. adt quickly called the police. i felt like it was over right away. feels like it's still not over. we lost our digital photos, financial records, things that insurance simply can't replace. [ male announcer ] protect yourself with the fast-alarm response of adt with 24/7 monitoring against burglary, fire, and high levels of carbon monoxide starting at just over $1 a day. and now get installation starting at just $49 -- a savings of $250. but hurry. these savings end soon. i'm glad we had adt. [ male announcer ] adt. always there.

>> shannon: president obama has rolled out a number of nominees set so take key roles in the second term administration. our next guest is vowing to hold up one of the nominations and calls another one of them an in your face pick by the president. senator lindsey graham republican from south carolina and member of the senate armed services committee joins us live. great to have you here today. >> thanks for having me. happy new year. >> shannon: a lot of ground to cover. start with one of your number one top ivesics, benghazi. >> where do we stand and what role does that play in how we handle the nominations? >> we stand in the dark as a nation. they are making two movies. he deserves applause and praise for going after bin laden. we don't know what the president did for 7 hours during the attack in benghazi. when was he notified. did he order people to come to their aid and was the order carried out? we don't know who the survivors were. they were interview youd the

day after the attack by the fbi and i cia couldn't get the results of the interview because they are worried about compromising the investigation. we are going back to treating crime. we don't know who changed the talking points to take al-qaeda references out of the talking points given susan rice three weeks before the election. we don't know anything. i don't want to hold up but i will until we get to the bottom of benghazi. in case the administration is listening to this program you are not going forward on these nominations until you share with the congress with really happened in benghazi. >> shannon: do you have support across the aisle at all for the proposition? i'm sure there are democrats who would also like answers to that question. >> i would be shocked if the democratic party would not at least join in the effort to find out what the president did during the attack, who did change the talking points. why are we now you back to a pre9/11 model of where the fbi can't talk to the cia.

i hope they are interested in that. >> shannon: have you been given any timeline for the investigations wrapping up? >> you have to remember that brennan is also one of the people that we suspect of leaking classified information about the bin laden raid, the underwear bomber and cyber attacks against iran by us and israel. that is the subject of two criminal investigations. i want to know if the potential cia director and the two people doing the investigation worked for eric holder. i want to know the status of the investigation before we move forward on brennan. >> shannon: so no vote until you get the answers. >> call me old fashioned. >> okay, we will. moving on to chuck hagel. you have said he is an in your face pick. what do you mean? >> i can't think of a more in your face selection. you are picking somebody to be secretary of defense that the iranians have applauded.

kelly acotte said she wants a secretary of defense who the iranians fear not applaud. he voted for an amendment to designate the revolutionary guard -- if teleare not a terrorist organization who would be. he refused to seen a letter designating hezbollah as a terrorist organization and voted against sanctioning iran. so yeah, i think it is a hugely controversial pick. >> shannon: will you wait to hear him out at the hearing? >> absolutely. i can't wait to hear him tell me why he thought the revolutionary guard in iran wasn't a terrorist organization and what kind of signal are you sending to israel and iran if he becomes the secretary of defense. might have been a good pick in other times but in the times in which we live where iran is marching toward a nuclear weapon for the president of the united states to pick someone who is openly defying the

panetta view of defense size and scope. he wants to cut it below. secretary panetta says we are destroying the defense department if we move forward with sequestration. and you are picking someone that the iranians applaud and israel is under scrutiny and in the cross hairs of history like any other time i have seen and we are about to nominate a person for secretary of defense who tells israel you should negotiate directly with hamas? a group of people who tried to kill israeli children every day by lobbing rockets. makes no sense to me. >> shannon: and you have tough concerns and tough questions about the nominees and others probably coming up as well. i know that you are deferensial to the president in many cases when justices sotomayor and kagan were up for nomination you did vote for them. >> i thought they were qualified. >> shannon: when do you draw the line? >> when the signal you are sending to the secretary of defense nominee to the iranians that we are not really serious about stopping your nuclear program and to our allies in

israel. he has taken votes that make him the most antagonistic senator in the u.s. senator maybe he has a good explanation for this. i draw the line when i think it will compromise our international security interests. >> we will continue our conversation with senator graham more after this break. a whole lot more to come. when you have diabetes... your doctor will say get smart about your weight. that's why there's glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. to divvy up this shared data plan...fairly.

so, um, whoever's fathered the most children, gets the most data. let's just do it by hair. body hair? most dental work. what? [ phones buzzing and beeping ] stop downloading, and stop liking everything. it should be by who has the least amount of cartilage in their left knee. [ mom ] i just want to take a bath. [ male announcer ] say no to sharing. say yes to sprint. with truly unlimited data, text and calling.

>> shannon: vice president joe wide biden is expected to deliver the task force recommendations to gun control to president obama on tuesday and some are concerned it could include regulations that would infringe on gun owners second amendment rights. we are back now with senator lindsey graham. i want to ask you you, how do you think we are are doing in afghanistan and our plans there. >> the president's decision to accelerate withdrawal and leave a small force behind is a disaster in the making. our national interests are not determined by what we leave behind. there is only one afghan brigade that can maneuver itself. so a small force that just does training and counter terrorism how are the afghans going to get around the country without american helicopter and air lift support and if you take the intelligence gathering

process out of the mix we go blind and that is a big chance for the enemy to regenerate. this is heart breaking to me. we fought so long and so hard. if we just followed the military commander's advice i think we could end this well. for four times now the president overruled his own commanders instead of having 40,000 surge forces he went with 30. you couldn't go to the east and the south at the same time. withdrew the surge forces last summer so you didn't have the fighting season. now, we are is accelerating the troops we have left in afghan for are this fighting season. they don't have helicopters and transport aircraft and if we do what the president is suggesting this place is going to fall apart and the taliban are going to come back and this is what president obama said in 2008 as president i will make the fight against al-qaeda and the taliban the top priority that is should be, this this is a war that we have is to wen. mr. president what you are doing now is i think ensureing that afghanistan will become

destable and affect pakistan. the worst signal to send to the iranians and it is heart breaking. >> shannon: the president will say as commander in chief it is his decision. >> it is. >> shannon: he s making this decision on his best advice. >> he is a good politician and a lousy general. >> shannon: he campaigned on telling the american people that we were going to leave and now he is sticking to what he promised. >> in 2008 he campaigned this is the good war we must win and the place we have to get right. he campaigned there s no better supporter of the state of israel in 2012 than barack obama. now, here he is picking chuck hagel the most antagonistic senator during his time against the state of israel. he owns iraq and afghanistan. the bush term is finally over. this s his presidency. he left iraq without any troops, al-qaeda is coming back in large numbers and iraq is going to fall apart. and what you see here is the beginning of the reemergences of the taliban in the southern part of afghanistan.

we will lose all of the gains we had. are this is a terrible day for women in afghanistan and the taliban are licking their chops. >> shannon: i can only hope in some way that you are wrong about that. >> me, too. >> shannon: and we will see. we talked about the fact that the vice president this week will turn in his recommendations on gun violence. a lot of outcry from gun rights groups saying they were invited as window dressing and they don't feel like all of the issues are being minuted and the vice president used the word executive action that can be taken. what does that mean to you. i don't know what that means but i know that executive order undercutting the constitution is a tough road to go and i would advise the administration not to try to use executive orders to try to change the second amendment and there will be bipartisan opponents. a father transferring a gun to their son, if you want to talk

about gun show loopholes we will talk about this but the idea of limiting magazine size. fox news has done the public a great service. one bullet in the hand of a crazy person is one too many but six bullets in the hands of a woman trying to protect her children from a home invasion may not be enough. she shot the guy five or six times and he still was able to stand. criminals are going to get the high capacity magazines. we are not addressing the problems. the problem is the school was unguarded. if you had somebody in the school to confront the guy that is a much better solution than trying to limit magazines. >> shannon: we asked twitter users to send over questions. what has the obama administration and the president in particular done that you do agree with? >> maybe immigration reform? i think the president's surge even though it wasn't 40, 30 was the right thing to do initially. i think he -- him taking off containing a nuclear armed iran was the right decision to make. i hope i can work with them on immigration. i hope we can do some things on

entitlement reform. but cw means chief warrant officer. the one thing i cannot tell the chief warrant officer that he has handled iraq anding a well. he hasn't listened to his generals. he played poll tips with troop numbers. at the end of the day if we don't get afghanistan right it will haunt us for decades and if the taliban come back they will kill the people that helped us and nobody in the future will side with us because we will be an unreliable ally. if the taliban come back after 12 years of us fighting them then every other islamic radical terrorist group in the world will be on steroids. >> shannon: i love freedom is the name of the next question we got. how far are you willing to go to pursue the truth of the benghazi massacre because the administration will eventually make you a target? >> i'm not worried about me. i'm asking the basic facts to be exposed to the american

people. why was it a death trap. did the president know about the attacks in april and june on the consulate and know about the british ambassador being attacked in june. he said he ordered people to come to the aid of the people at the consulate during a 7 hour attack. when did he make that order and what was the response? if the talking points were changed and al-qaeda was taken out, why? i'm very suspicious that the story that susan rice told was a political story three weeks before the election where she said al-qaeda was decimated. that is hot true. she said the consulate was significantly and substantially secured. now, we know it was a death trap. i want to know why the cia and the fbi couldn't talk to each other about survivor interviews held by the fbi to make sure we wouldn't have made a mistake that it was based on a video. the questions i'm asking are reason and and i'm going to insist on an answer. >> shannon: and we will be watching along with you as our viewers and americans across the country want the same answers. great to have you visit with

us. thank you so much. >> shannon: small business other thans slightly more optimistic in 2012. the index rose half a point to 88. still one of the lowest ratings in the history. 648 businesses surveyed ranked taxes regulations and poor sales as the top three business problems and 70% say right now is a bad time for them to think about expanding. stick around. we'll be right back. s wrong ♪ ♪ i don't wanna be right [ record scratch ] what?! it's not bad for you. it just tastes that way. [ female announcer ] honey nut cheerios cereal -- heart-healthy, whole grain oats. you can't go wrong loving it. we don't let frequent heartburn come between us and what we love. so if you're one of them people who gets heartburn and then treats day afr day... block the acid with prilosec otc and don't get heartburn in the first place! [ male announcer ] e pill eachmorning. 24 hours. zero heartbur